1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of construction hangers, and more particularly to a construction hanger for supporting a first wooden member relative to a second wooden member in which the hanger is provided with an improved means for retaining the first member relative to the hanger and preventing the same from being drawn up off the hanger seat during the installation process. The present invention also relates to a method of making such a hanger.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the construction industry, supported wooden members such as joists, rafters or the like are connected to supporting wooden members such as header support beams, ridge beams, etc. by various types of hangers. In general, such hangers include a seat portion comprised of a seat bottom and seat sides for supporting the joist and means in the form of one or more flanges for connecting the hanger, and thus the joist, to the header beam or other supporting member. Such hangers also typically include nail holes for connecting the seat sides to the joist. A variety of flange configurations are used to connect the hanger to the supporting member. These include an overhead configurations with flanges for connection to the top of the header beam, face mount configurations with flanges for connection to the face of the header beam and wrap around configurations hanger with flanges extending over the top of the header beam.
During the installation process, the hangers are first attached to the header beams, after which the .joists are positioned into the hangers so that the ends of the joist are supported in the seat portions of the hangers. The installer then connects the joist to the hanger usually by driving a nail or nails through nail holes in the seat sides and into the joist. As this is done, if the nail is slanted downwardly, it is common for the joist to be drawn up toward the nail hole as the nailing is completed. This causes the joist to "ride up" in the hanger if not connected or otherwise retained, to the point where the joist is no longer seated on the seat bottom. This in turn can result in the top surfaces of the joists being misaligned and squeaky floors or the like after construction is complete. Thus, it is important for the joists to be firmly connected with the hanger and seated within the seat portion, with the bottom edge of the joist seated on the seat bottom.
Several hangers have been designed with holddown devices for solving the above problem and insuring that the joist is fully and properly seated within the seat portion during the construction process. One of these involves the provision of a tab on a side flange of the seat portion which is intended to be bent over and nailed to a top surface of the lower flange of an I-joist. As the tab is nailed into the joist, the tab bends to accommodate the position of the joist rather than drawing the joist off the hanger seat. Thus, the joist remains fully seated within the seat portion of the hanger. Although this structure functions satisfactorily for an I-joist, it is not a significant improvement over conventional hangers when used with laminated or full dimension lumber joists. Even when used with I-joists, the hanger installation involves the extra step of bending the tabs over the top surface of the I-joist bottom flange. The above device is marketed by Simpson Strong-Tie under the trademark "Bend Tab".
A further structure designed to solve the above problem involves providing an inwardly extending prong on each of the seat portion sides for engagement with the top surface of an I-joist bottom flange. Thus, the prongs of this structure are positioned so that the bottom edge of the prong will engage the top surface of the I-joist bottom flange to retain it in proper seating engagement. Although this hanger functions acceptably for I-joists, and is less time consuming than the bend over tabs of the Simpson device, it can be used effectively only with I-joists. If laminated beams or full dimension lumber is used in such hangers, the prongs do not function to properly seat the joist relative to the hanger. In fact, use of laminated or full dimension lumber will engage the prongs, thus causing the seat portion sides to be spaced from the sides of the joist.
A still further solution has been to provide alternate screw holes in the bottom of the seat. If a squeaky floor occurs, screws can be driven into these holes to solve the problem.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a joist hanger or the like with an improved means for positioning a joist within the seat portion of the hanger and positively retaining the joist in such position during nailing of the hanger to the joist.